So You Think You Can Dance: Wardrobe Malfunctions, Bloody Noses, Afghanistan Tributes, Oh My! |
 |
 |
| Written by Lauren Cheal |
| Thursday, 23 June 2011 00:03 |
|
Last week, this show wasted all of our time by not eliminating any of the dancers. Dumb! This week, we have a fun guest judge in Debbie Reynolds (she sang in the rain, in case you didn’t know). Apparently, this week four dancers will go home. Exciting! Ricky and Ryan: These two have a “sexy” jazz routine choreographed by Mandy Moore. Not that Mandy Moore, sadly. Ryan is not doing much to win me over this week…she seems annoying. Ricky is impressive with his athleticism in this routine, but Ryan just looks like prop. The judges have nothing but praise, and Nigel awkwardly says that the routine had the sexual chemistry of he and Mary Murphy. Debbie Reynolds wins me over early on by claiming that Ryan really gave it her all by coming out of both her top and bottom (wardrobe malfunctions). Caitlynn and Mitchell: We didn’t get to see Mitchell last week because of an injury, and this week they will be dancing a contemporary routine by Stacey Tookey. They have prop armchairs in their routine, which generally doesn’t bode well. As I suspected, the time spent in the chairs is a waste. After that, they suffer from what I saw last week in another couple, where they don’t have the emotional core in their dance. It is technically quite good. After the routine, Caitlynn is bleeding because apparently Mitchell punched her during the dance. Hilarious. Good for her for just dancing through it. Missy and Wadi: These two are given a difficult cha cha cha by Jean Marc Genereux. A lot of the dance is not recognizable as a cha cha to me (and I have recapped two, yes TWO, seasons of Dancing with the Stars). When they are doing cha cha moves, it is good, but the dance is a little boring, over all. Debbie gives them a useless critique of “muy bueno”. Nigel tells Wadi that his technique really needs work. Mary tells Wadi that he was not on form, but Missy really did well outside of her genre. Mary also agrees with me that the first half of the dance wasn’t cha cha! Iveta and Nick: Our tap dancer and ballroom world champion get a Bollywood number by Nakul Dev Mahajan. I really think that this pair has the most talent between them. Nick is showing early that he can learn the different styles quickly. This Bollywood routine is really high energy, and they seem to hit the steps very well. Iveta outdances Nick slightly, but I think she is just going to do that. Nigel says the two were good, though previous pairs have done it better (Joshua and Katee, for example). Miranda and Robert: These two are dancing a Napolean and Tabitha hip hop routine. It is woodpecker-themed. “NappyTab” as Cat calls them, are somewhat famous for their nutty, but fun routines. I am impressed with the swagger that nice girl Miranda is able to pull off in this routine. There is a part where Miranda does a front flip, but sort of falls short. It seems like it was sort of expected that she would, as Robert is spotting her and then the choreography continues from the floor, but it was distracting, nonetheless. Mary agrees with me about swagger, and I am starting to worry that she and I agree about so much. Will I be screaming about hot tamale trains next? Nigel was particularly impressed by Miranda, and I have to agree with him too. Clarice and Jess: Broadway guy and his partner get a contemporary routine by Stacey Tookey. Jess is really short, and it shows as he struggles with the lifts in rehearsal. Clarice is a few inches taller than him, and it makes a difference in the routine as well. Other than the height difference, I don’t see much of interest in the dance. The studio audience goes a bit nuts for it, so maybe I have missed something. Nigel liked the work they did separately, but the partnered stuff seemed off. Amen, brother. Debbie is uselessly positive, and Mary talks about how much strength Jess shows as a dancer. Jordan and Tadd: We learn that Jordan is indeed as dumb as I thought, and these two get to dance a Viennese Waltz by Jean Marc Genereux. The routine is very engaging…as Viennese Waltz’s tend to be. I don’t know how strong the technique is, but I am sure Mary will let me know. It is smooth, graceful, and I buy the emotion. Nigel loved the routine, and tells Tadd that this was the best he has seen from a BBoy in this type of dance. Mary doesn’t disappoint and tells us that the fencing lines, arm wrapping and arabesques were all on target. Melanie and Marko: The statues from last week get a jazz routine from Mandy Moore (again, not the one I was hoping for). I think this dance is an example of how strong dancers can really sell the performance. I really enjoyed this sort of retro inspired jazz number, but I could see not liking it very much on another pair of dancers. It had strange pacing in places, but these two do so well with it, it is forgiven. Mary praises them for technique and style, and Nigel praises their passion. Another strong routine. Sasha and Alexander: They are thrilled to get a hip hop routine from Napolean and Tabitha. It is a story about a soldier returning from Afghanistan, which sets the dancers up to do really well. The dancers do well with the choreography, but something about the story of the dance seems off to me. It starts out very slow and emotional, but then it picks up into a crazy fast-paced hip hop thing that doesn’t suit the storyline. Also, Sasha’s hair is styled in a Mohawk that is distracting. Mary can barely speak because of her personal connection to the story. Nigel kind of sums it up by saying “it’s not even worth talking about the dancing”. Exactly! He means it as a compliment, but I see the device of using the story as an artistic cheat. How is anyone supposed to critique something like that? I do not mean to say that art shouldn’t tell powerful stories, it absolutely should. But when art has been turned into a reality competition, different rules apply, and this felt like a cheap ploy. Ashley and Chris: This forgettable pair gets a routine by Spencer Liff. I don’t know what kind of routine it is, but Liff usually does Broadway. The whole dance is done with jail bars between the couple, which is cool in theory, but sort of fails when the camera shoots from the side of the stage, showing that the bars end. Nigel really likes Chris and commends him for stepping it up this week. Mary puts these two on the dreaded Hot Tamale Train. I hoped it wouldn’t come to this tonight. More Moves
Bookmark
Email this
Comments (4)
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
